The replacement of part of each gallon with ethanol will result in a 10 percent reduction in petroleum used in university vehicles and equipment, officials said.

“We expect the transition to E-10 to be nearly seamless,” said George Harrell, senior associate vice chancellor for campus operations.

Harrell said the university uses about 107,000 gallons of regular gasoline per year so the change will result in a reduction of almost 11,000 gallons of petroleum per year. Other changes that are planned to further reduce petroleum usage include switching to remanufactured lubricating oil for university vehicles and switching the Student Transit System busses to Biodiesel.

Harrell said crops are grown in eastern North Carolina that can be used to produce the ethanol portion of the E-10 mix. A production facility is under construction in nearby Aurora.